Friends Who Are Going

Friends Attending

Friends Attending

Friends Attending

Description

You'll have the chance to hear about the fantastic research taking place in Sheffield and you will definitely learn something new!

Three researchers will have 10 minutes to explain their research, with the aid of a whiteboard and maybe some props, followed by up to 20 minutes of friendly Q&A.

All that we ask is that you come along with an open mind and a £1 donation to help fund future events and quench the speakers thirst. Because let's face it - they will have definitely earned it! :)

Speaker 1: Jake Mills

Title:Investigating The Reasons for Virally-Induced Asthma Attacks

Summary:1 in 11 people (approximately 5.4 million) in the UK suffer from Asthma. Asthma attacks cause around 1,500 deaths and cost the NHS over £1 billion per year. 70% of all asthma attacks are induced by respiratory viral infections, with the common cold (also known as human rhinovirus or HRV) the most common. Despite this, the role of HRV in asthma attacks is not well understood, and thus the role of my research is to investigate this. I have identified a protein called Tenascin-C (TN-C) that is not present in the healthy airway, but is upregulated in asthmatic tissues. This protein induces inflammation in other diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, and I have demonstrated that it is upregulated specifically in response to HRV infection. The rest of my work will be tailored towards investigating whether this protein can have an inflammatory effect in the airway, and whether this could be a medicinal target in the future in order to develop more effective asthma treatment.

Speaker 2: Belle Rosales

Title: Promoting a positive body image through self-compassion

Summary:Body image is the result of a person’s body size perception, thoughts about body attractiveness and feelings associated with how their body looks. Self-objectification occurs when women see their bodies as an object which they can modify, focusing on features that they may lack rather than body functionality. Self-compassion has three main components, which support the person when having difficult times, these are self-kindness, the ability to be kind towards oneself rather than critical. Common humanity, the ability to accept that suffering is part of human beings rather than an isolated condition and mindfulness, which is the ability to be aware of feelings and thoughts rather that over-identification. Self-compassion has been linked to positive body image. Gratitude, appreciating the positive aspects of life, is linked to well-being but is understudied with respect to body image. This research can provide new insights in how to promote positive body image.

Speaker 3: Wasim Ahmed

Title:Using social media data for insights into infectious diseases

Summary:In the 21st century there has been a burst of social media platforms and these platforms are used by a subset of the global population. They are important and established communication tools. Originally intended for personal use, overtime, social media would come to be used for commercial insight into brands, and for academic research. Now, a number of different disciplines are designing and conducting research on social media. My thesis, for instance, has undertaken an in-depth analysis of data related to virus outbreaks such as Swine Flu and Ebola. By analysing over 13 thousand tweets, I was able to find out how people communicate about disease on social media and whether data from social media is a useful alternative to traditional qualitative methods for health research.